Archive for various

Very brief roundup

May 3, 2009 at 14:20 · Filed under books, historical, mystery, various, young adult ·Tagged , , ,

merrybegot

The Minister’s Daughter, Atheneum Books / The Merrybegot (UK title) by Julie Hearn, 2005
17th century England, young adult book. Nell is a merrybegot, a child conceived on the first of May. She and her grandmother are the village healers. Among the fairies and piskies, Nell gets tangled up in a pregnancy coverup carried out by the minister’s daughter Grace and her sister Patience. I liked the use of olde language without being too distracting and the dual narrative worked for me. 4/5


secretcountessThe Secret Countess by Eva Ibbotson, Young Picador, 2007 (also called A Countess Below Stairs, 1981)
1919 England, young adult book. Anna, a young Russian countess, decides to take up a servant position in the Westerholme house to earn much needed money for her newly arrived and impoverished family. She falls for the new Earl in the process.  3/5


silentsanc2Silent in the Sanctuary by Deanna Raybourn, Mira, 2008
Second book of the Lady Julia Grey series. I didn’t think this had the page-turning quality of Silent in the Grave, but I enjoyed the mystery of this one more. I liked getting to know more of Julia’s siblings and family; it’s still two steps forward, two steps back with Julia and Nicholas Brisbane. 4/5

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A short roundup

February 24, 2009 at 19:37 · Filed under books, mystery, romance, various ·Tagged , , , ,

Call these reviewlets – books I didn’t get around to writing much on compiled here. Something like those tiny 100 calorie sized snacks that seem to be popular these days?

theagencyThe Agency by Ally O’Brien, St. Martin’s Press, 2009
Liked the insider’s look at agency life, but I didn’t really connect with protagonist Tess. Things at the end were wrapped up rather quickly. There are many London/British references, which I didn’t mind because I got some of them. Ally O’Brien is actually writing duo Brian Freeman and entertainment agent Ali Gunn. 3/5

If you live in the US or Canada there’s still time to enter Bookshipper’s contest to win a copy – ends February 27.

 

artthiefThe Art Thief by Noah Charney, Atria, 2007

Entertaining look into the high art world. I skimmed over a lot of the symbolism/iconography explanations, but Professor Barrow’s lectures were so entertaining and they were my favourite parts. It felt like I needed to draw a diagram to keep the twists straight though. 3.5/5

dateothersideA Date With the Other Side by Erin McCarthy, Berkley Sensation, 2005

Cuttersville, Ohio’s haunted house tour operator Shelby and Chicago city boy Boston – their first meeting involves Boston’s nakedness. Not sure I’ll view eyelet quite the same way again and the momentum from that opening fizzled out. 2.5/5

 

moongazerMoongazer by Marianne Mancusi, Love Spell/Shomi, 2007
Matrix-like plot. Manhattan video game designer Skye has dreams of a postapocalyptic world where the people, particularly a man named Dawn, think she’s some resistance leader named Mariah who betrayed them. Dawn and Mariah have history, but Skye can’t be Mariah, even though they look alike, right? The pacing seemed a bit slow at the beginning, but I enjoyed Skye’s journey and the reveal at the end. 3.5/5

 

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